Diabolique (City of Heroes)
Diabolique, once known as Tammy Arcanus, is a character in the MMO City of Heroes. She originally appears as one of many alternate reality versions of the game's super heroes. In Diaboliques case she is the evil version of main-reality's super-heroine, Numina. The game's main reality has come to be called "Primal Earth", whil e Diabolique's reality came to be called "Praetorian Earth". Diabolique is the bound soul of a deceased mage, in-service to Emperor Cole - lord of Praetoria and himself the extremist version of Primal Earth's main hero, Statesman. Diabolique is fully aware of her actions but unable to refuse direct orders. She frantically searched for sources of great power, while Cole believes these searches are for him, they are in fact the ghost acting on her own iniative trying to find magic that can break his hold over her, before he can directly order her to give such items to him. In her search, Diabolique would eventually become a blight on both realities once she finally had achieved freedom. Dis-Numina In "Primal Earth", Tammy Arcanus is a mage with the secretive arcane group called The Midnight Squad A.K.A. Midnighters. The Midnighters were founded to combat the evil cultists in the Circle of Thorns, but their purpose grew and eventually keeping powerful magics out of the hands of the Circle meant hoarding it in their secured headquarters - The Midnight Club. Tammy Arcanus was the last in a long line of magi. She was introduced to the Club by Tommy Arcanus - her father. Members of the club kept it a secret even if the members themselves were active in the public. Tommy and Tammy Arcanus were first witnessed by the public when they showed up to stop a supervillain named Red-Threat. Red Threat had the power of radiation and was prepared to turn himself into an atomic bomb once it looked like he was looking at either death or a life sentence. Tammy used the only spell she knew that could even remotely stop such destruction and astrally projected herself out of her body and into Red Threat, possessing him to stop the reaction dead in it's tracks. Red-Threat was rendered comatose from the reaction combined with the spell, but as the explosion was set to go off as Tammy was possessing him, it would resume as soon as she left, so keeping the city safe, meant staying in Red-Threat's body, even as it was sent to a secured holding facility. Eventually Red-Threat would die of natural causes and Numina was freed from his body, but by then both her father and her original body had died. Tommy still exists as a haunted skull in the Midnight Club who watches the club as a true ghost, though one with no malice and thus no means of physically manifesting but happy his daughter is safe and free. The ageless Marcus Cole AKA Statesman vouched for Numina when she emerged from Red Threat's body stating she just wanted to help the city and joined him as a pseudo-ghost fighting the forces of evil. In Preatoria things took on a different turn. Tammy was also the last in a long-family-line of Midnighters, but her father was kept so busy with his duties that she had to be self-taught in the arts of magic. Tammy took up necromancy and without a guide her experiments went awry. Tammy projected herself out of her body to become a pseudo-ghost, but she used the spell so much and purely as means of entertainment until she eventually forgot to return in-time and her mortal body died of starvation/dehydration. Feeling guilty for not being there for his daughter, Tommy Arcanus bound her spirit and tried to bring her back as a ghost. In an act of rebellion, Tammy killed her father and then raised his corpse and bound his soul as undead thralls. Unfortunately for Tammy her father's binding ritual had worked and was completed even after his mortal death. Emperor Marcus Cole heard of the renegade ghost and in investigating found the charm Tommy Arcanus had binded his daughter to. Tommy's charm acts as an anchor, without it Tammy would fade into nothing, so she never destroyed it, but it also means she must serve its possessor. With Emperor Cole, or "Tyrant" as his critics in the Restiance call him, in possession of the charm, Tammy is stuck compliant to Praetoria's tyrant. Tyrant's Minion Emperor Cole is an Incarnate - a being imbued with a conceptual manifestation of power on a fundamental level. He had drunk from an inter-dimensional nexus point called the Well of the Furies, said to be the receptacle for the gods of old, where such powers reside when not employed by a specific god. Because of the Well Tyrant and his Primal Earth equivalent were effectively demigods, Statesman refused to become a full god for fear the Well would corrupt his judgment, in Praetoria however, Cole accepted but with that power came an extremism and lust for more power. Cole had become emperor after he fought a mad-scientist turned Incarnate named, Hamidon, an embodiment of the planet's wrath, and was showered with praise for saving the world from the ecological monster. Though Cole wishes to rebuild the ravaged world he frequently sacrifices human rights and lives in his pursuits. Cole keeps his methods secret from the general public. As Tammy is a ghost and needs to follow asignments from him, Tammy became a valuable asset for Cole. Her ability to phase-shift, turn invisable and use enchantments makes her the perfect enforcer for Cole's espionage missions. Tammy maintains her own will, opinions, and awareness but is simply compelled to obey all direct orders given, even as she resents following them. In an effort to avoid too much suspicion from Tyrant, Tammy does not push the limits of the "direct orders" part of her binding - for fear Tyrant might start giving her more and more specific orders she can not find loopholes in. Cole is aware of Tammy's discontent, even if not of the limits of how much loyalty she does and does not owe him, and so has code-named her "Diabolique" - fancying her a sinister ghost kept under-control only thanks to him. In her original appearance before Praetoria was rounded out in Going Rogue, Diabolique was one of the many evil doppelgangers of the game's main heroes/heroine, serving Tyrant. For the original Going Rogue she was only a passing mention in the main-part of Praetoria but starts to appear in-the-ectoplasm once the heroes/villains/Praetorians are sent to/return to, Praetoria in it's First Ward region. First Ward Arc The First Ward is ground-zero of Hamidon's attack. It is a part of Praetoria Emperor Cole has tried to reclaim but is heavily contested by The Resistance - as well as various other competing parties. The veil between life-and-death, magic and mortal worlds is weak in the First Ward, with ghosts frequently appearing. Additionally Praetor Shalice Tilman, also known as Mother Mayhem - as the Resistance call her, has a psychic mental hospital out in the First Ward which, while secure, has attracted all manner of psychic phenomena to the region. Diabolique is kept patrolling the region as Cole's eyes and ears. Officially she is there looking out for Praetoria's interest and there to report and act as a troubleshooter in the contested paranormal zone; Unofficially she is frantically searching the region for something, anything powerful enough to free her from Cole's service. She will be encountered once the quests in the arc bring the player to the southeastern region in the graveyard. Diabolique starts off claiming she represents Cole's greater order, however as the story unfolds it will become clear her primary goal there is the location of magical forces strong enough to free her. But with Cole exposed by then as a true Tyrant, Diabolique is easily able to pass herself off as someone who is more than happy to help undermine him. Even with Tammy starting off as an uneasy ally she will soon show she is willing to do anything to be free of Cole and from the midpoint of the arc onward the player will be competing with her to unlock the secrets of the First Ward, as whatever the Player's goals are, Diabolique's plans for the First Ward put the entire zone in danger of being burned up to erode her binding to Cole. Category:City of Heroes Villains Category:Undead Category:Noncorporeal Category:Magic Category:Necromancers Category:Alternate Reality Villains Category:Enforcer Category:Spy Category:Possessor Category:Pawns Category:God Wannabe Category:Death Gods Category:Thief Category:Murderer Category:Successful Category:Twin/Clone Category:Power Hungry Category:Supervillains Category:Imprisoned Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:Female Category:Chaotic Evil